To source the leaves for this Thai recipe, shop at a Thai, Vietnamese, or Chinese market with a substantive Southeast Asian population. See above for substitution suggestions. This recipe was slightly adapted from Simple Thai Food, a wonderful cookbook by Leela Punyaratabandhu.
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: Thai
Keyword: miang kham, wild pepper leaf
Servings: 6
Ingredients
For the sauce
1 Tbspdried meaty shrimp
½ cuphot water
½cup plus 2 Tbsp dried, unsweetened coconut
1stalklemongrass, trimmed and thinly sliced (2 to 3 Tbsp)
1tspfermented shrimp paste (Thai, Chinese or Vietnamese); see Note for substitution
½cuppacked grated palm sugar plus ⅓ cup packed dark brown sugar, or ⅔ cup packed dark brown sugar
1Tbspfish sauce
¼cupwater
2Tbspfinely chopped or crushed unsalted, roasted peanuts
Salad
1 lime
1(3-in)section fresh ginger, peeled and cut into ¼-in dice
2small shallots(2 oz total), peeled and cut into ¼-in dice
½cupunsalted, roasted peanuts
5 or 6Thai chiles, sliced crosswise into ¼-in pieces
⅓cupmeaty dried shrimp
24to 30la lot (cha-phlu) leaves, or 3-inch pieces of collard greens, Portuguese kale, or Chinese broccoli leaves
Instructions
Put the dry shrimp in a small bowl, add the hot water and let soak for 15 minutes.
Put all the dried coconut in a wok or 14-inch skillet and toast over medium heat, stirring constantly until medium brown, about 2 to 3 minutes. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the toasted coconut for the sauce and set the remainder aside for the salad. Wipe out any coconut sediment from the pan. Add the lemongrass, shallot, galangal, and ginger to the clean wok, then toast over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until the shallot slices are barely damp and feel dry to the touch, about 5 minutes. Transfer the toasted mixture to a small food processor, add the soaked shrimp, its soaking liquid, and shrimp paste. Process to a wet, relatively smooth paste. (Or, you may pound and grind using a mortar and pestle.)
Scrape the paste into a 1-quart saucepan, then add the sugars, fish sauce, and water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. When the sauce has boiled and thickened to reduced to about 1 cup, after 2 to 3 minutes, take the pan off the heat. Let the sauce cool completely. Before serving, stir in the crushed peanuts and reserved 2 tablespoons toasted coconut (finely chop the coconut if it came as shreds). Transfer to a small serving bowl.
To ready the lime for the salad, cut it into 8 wedges, then trim away the core but leave a bit of the juicy flesh attached to the rind. Cut the wedges into ¼-inch dice.
To serve, arrange the lime, ginger, shallot, peanut, chilies, toasted dried coconut, leaves and dressing on a large serving platter. To eat, put a leaf in your palm, add a bit of each component in the center, top with a small spoonful of dressing. Gather up the leaf to form a bag and eat the whole thing in one bite. Repeat until all the toppings and leaf are gone.
Notes
In a pinch, use anchovy paste sold in tubes at a standard supermarket instead of the shrimp paste. If the diced ginger taste too hot rinse it in cold water three or four times until the water runs clear and blot it dry. Refrigerate leftover sauce for a week. Or, freeze it for up to a month. Never miss a recipe! Sign up for the newsletter.